How to Compare the Effectiveness of Weight Watchers and Other Diet Plans

To Eat or Not to Eat

Effective ways to lose weight are of perennial interest. Though obesity is generally acknowledged to have reached epidemic proportions, finding reliable information on this important health issue can be difficult. Numerous popular weight-loss plans exist, often with radically different approaches. Simply scanning the local bookstore or library shelves for diet books or searching online can be an exercise in frustration. How do you determine which diet offers not only the best method, but also the healthiest approach?

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Look for authoritative information. Do not rely on recommendations from friends, neighbors, ads, the current fad diet or the latest best-seller.

2. Use the Internet, either at home or in a public library, to search the medical literature (see Resources, below).

3. NLM PubMed

   Try using the United States National Library of Medicine’s online database PubMed. This free database houses millions of health-related articles, reports and studies. Go through the tutorial on how to search PubMed, linked on the home page. Also read the FAQ.

4. Weight Watchers Search on PubMed

   Start with a simple search such as the name of the diet in which you are interested, such as “Weight Watchers” or “Atkins diet.” To make the search results easier to review, select “Abstracts”from the “Limits” tab on the Web page.

5. Look for reports not only on actual weight loss but also on how the diets affected various risk factors such as lipids (total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides), glucose, insulin, C-reactive protein and blood pressure.

Tips & Warnings

• Information found on PubMed often includes abstracts of reports and sometimes links to free full text. You can also obtain the full text either through a doctor or by using inter-library loan, which should be available at any local public library.

• Look for other recommended health resources through the directory on the National Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health MedlinePlus home page (see below).

• Contact the American Dietetic Association (ADA).

• Consult a physician if any health or disease factors, including serious weight issues, are present before embarking on any diet.

• Avoid diets that claim you will lose large amounts of weight in short periods of time.

Resources

• National Library of Medicine PubMed
• USDA Food Pyramid
• Healthy Eating Pyramid
• MedlinePlus Health Information
• Contact ADA